by Kelly Oram
“Oh, for the love of!” Dad groaned. “Do you see? Do you see what my problem here is Karen? How can you encourage this?”
Suddenly Dad’s stress made perfect sense to all of us. Mom sighed.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked Dave quickly before my mom could say something to Dad about puberty.
“A bunch of us are getting together to watch the UFC prelims,” he replied. He was having trouble staying focused. “You down, or what?” Finally he couldn’t take it anymore and he laughed. “Westley, what is that?”
Dave was pointing at my outfit. “Nothing.” I sighed. “I was just taking it off.”
My sister grabbed me before I could stomp up the stairs. “Oh, no you’re not. I just spent forty-five minutes making you look fabulous. You can go just like you are.”
“I’m not showing up to fight night in a dress.”
“Nah, it’s cool Westley,” Dave said, holding back laughter. “You look…” He had trouble finding a word. Behind him Greg and Sanchez were still staring at me like I’d grown a third arm. When Dave finally said the word “nice” they snickered.
“So come on,” Dave said. “Let’s go. First round starts in ten.”
“Got room for one more?” Angela asked Dave.
“For Angela Westley?” Dave grinned. “Always.”
I gagged at Dave trying to flirt with my sister and then turned to her. “You want to go to fight night?”
“I want to do anything that will get me out of the house right now. Plus, I want to see everyone’s reactions to my hard work.”
I looked at my dad. He was still looking very grumpy. “I’m sorry, David,” he said. “My girls aren’t allowed to go out on Saturday nights right now.”
“Oh, yeah, Mr. Westley, I get that whole serial killer thing. That’s why I brought the guys with me.” Greg and Sanchez puffed up their chests when Dave pointed at them—trying to look tough. “There’re three of us. We’ll go straight there, Angela and Ellie will never be alone, and there will be parents home. Then we’ll bring them straight back here after it’s over. I promise I’ll never let them out of my sight.”
Not that I didn’t appreciate the jailbreak, but I was surprised that the guys were willing to make the effort.
Dad shook his head stubbornly. “I don’t think so—”
“Mom!”
Angela threw my mom a desperate look and to my surprise Mom gave her a knowing smile in return. “Steven? May I have a word with you in the office please?”
Oh great. Now Mom’s as bad as Angela with the matchmaking bit.
When my parents were out of the room Dave laughed. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said your dad was freaking out over this serial killer thing.”
“Yeah, and you morons really weren’t helping the situation any with all your gawking,” I said. “Drool much?”
For a split second Dave looked startled, but he quickly smirked. “Don’t flatter yourself, Westley. It takes more than a dress to get me excited.”
My parents came back in the room then. Mom looked smug. Dad looked beaten. “There will be adult supervision?” he asked and Dave nodded. “And you’ll go straight there?” Dave nodded again.
Dad held out for a few more seconds even though it was clear he’d already lost the fight. Finally he sighed. “I want you home by midnight,” he told Angela and me. Then he looked at just me and said, “And take your sister’s cell phone with you. I want you to call me every hour.”
As my dad went on with his instructions, I wondered how much of this was because of the serial killer and how much was the dress.
“And you have the pepper spray I got you, right?”
“Steve,” Mom said, finally putting a stop to Dad’s rambling. “They’ll be fine.”
Dave threw his arm over my shoulder. “We’ll take good care of her, Mr. Westley.”
Dad’s frown grew even bigger and he looked at Angela. “This is your doing,” he accused. It was definitely the dress making him upset. “She’s your responsibility.”
Angela understood his meaning as much as I did. “Don’t worry, Dad,” she said, beaming proudly at him. “I know what I’m doing.”
Dad eyed Dave’s arm around me again and grumbled, “It’s not you I’m worried about.”
After my dad stomped out of the room, Dave asked, “What was all that?”
I looked up at him like he was an idiot and shrugged his arm off me.
Angela rolled her eyes and said, “She’s daddy’s little girl. He’s having a hard time adjusting to the new and improved Ellie.”
“He’s not the only one having a hard time with it,” Sanchez muttered.
I elbowed him in the stomach as hard as I could on my way out the front door, forcing him to double over. “How’s that for hard? Pervert.”
On the way to the fight, Angela talked Dave into stopping at Rachel’s house. I tried to tell her that Rachel, who was even more popular than Angela, would never agree to go to fight night with a bunch of juniors, but she insisted. Of course Dave wasn’t going to argue if it meant he got to show up with both Angela and Rachel.
When we got to Rachel’s house Angela dragged me out of the car. “What do you need me to come for?”
“Because even if she doesn’t come I still want her to see you. She didn’t think I could make you pretty.”
Angela knocked on the door, waited about two seconds and then let herself in. “Rachel!” she called to a dark house. “We’re here!”
“What do you mean ‘we’re here’?”
That’s when the lights flew on and about a zillion people jumped out yelling “Surprise!”
Surprised does not begin to cover it. It was so unexpected that I didn’t even know what was going on until my sister turned to me with an expectant face saying, “I know you didn’t want a party, but you looked so miserable yesterday, how could I not?”
“You threw me a surprise party?” I asked, still not quite believing it.
“I had to. It’s your sweet sixteen. I couldn’t let it be just dinner and fireworks with your parents. What kind of big sister would I be?”
As the shock faded I whirled around. Dave, Greg, and Sanchez had come in the door behind me and were watching me with rather amused expressions. “You knew about this?” I asked.
“You didn’t tell us it was your birthday,” Dave said, grinning. Greg and Sanchez looked just as proud to have been in on the secret. “Angela found me at the fireworks last night.”
I looked back at Angela, incredulous. “But I didn’t just invite all my friends,” she said, defensively. “See? I had Dave help me get your friends here too.”
I finally looked around the room and sure enough all the guys from the park were there. Even Kowalski. And they all looked very excited to have surprised me for my birthday. It was a little overwhelming. I mean I knew we were friends and all, but a surprise party? And Dave, Greg, and Sanchez going through all that trouble to get me here? I didn’t realize I was so well-liked.
“So?” Angela asked nervously. I think she was afraid I was mad at her. “What do you think?”
I continued to stare at the sea of people smiling at me and felt this strange lump in my throat. “I think this was pretty cool of you Ang,” I admitted. And then, because it felt like we were coming dangerously close to some kind of sister bonding moment, I added, “Except for the part where you tricked me into wearing a freaking dress.”
Everyone burst into laughter. “And that’s why we love Ellie,” Dave said, plopping his hand down on my head and ruffling my hair.
That must have been the signal for the party to begin, because everyone stopped paying attention to me and began mingling. I batted Dave’s hand away from my head and he laughed again. “Happy Birthday, Westley,” he said, and then disappeared into the crowd.
As soon as he was gone I mentally began counting. Five… Four… Three…
“Oh, my gosh, Ellie, Seth was right about you and Dave! You’re perfe
ct for each other.”
I gave her too much credit. Next time I’d have to start at three.
“Uh, Seth didn’t say we were perfect for each other, he said we were chummy. And, yes, he’s right, we’re friends.”
“But you could so be more. I’m sure of it. I don’t even think it would take very much.”
“I thought we were all about Seth,” I argued just for argument’s sake.
“But Ellie you don’t even like Seth, and you’re right, he’s kind of creepy.”
That surprised me. “What makes you say that?”
“I went over there this morning to invite him to the party and found him buried in a pile of books about personality disorders. I asked him if he wanted to help me plan the party and he said he was too busy. When I asked what he was doing he said, ‘Figuring out how to make Ellie fall for me.’”
“What?”
“I know, right? I would have thought that was super romantic if he weren’t reading a book about sociopaths when he said it.”
I don’t know what I found more disturbing, that Seth was sitting around trying to figure out ways to make me fall for him, or that he was looking for advice from Hannibal Lecter.
“But Dave,” Angela continued, snapping my attention back to her, “is perfect. True, he’s not quite the Zac Effron Seth is, but he’s still pretty cute and super popular. Plus you already like each other. You both just need a push in the romantic direction.”
I sighed and Angela began pouting. “Please?”
“You can try all you want, but it’s not going to work. Dave and I are just friends.”
Angela took that as a green light to play matchmaker. She gave me a giddy squeal and ran off. As she disappeared I sighed again.
“Wow, she seems determined.”
The statement came so naturally that I answered it automatically. “When Angela goes into matchmaker mode, there’s simply no stopping her.”
“So how do I get put on her list of viable candidates, and could you kindly point out who my competition is?”
That made me turn around. “Travis?” I asked, startled to see the jock strap from the lake party last week. His face brightened considerably when I called him by name.
“You remember,” he said. “I’m glad.”
He grinned this big cheesy grin at me that I couldn’t find the least bit impressive. Once Seth pointed out what a player this guy was, it was easy to see.
I smiled at the thought of Seth nearly picking a fight with Travis last week. I’d been so mad at the time, but looking back, what he did was actually pretty sweet.
Seth? Sweet? Did I really just say that?
“I’m glad I found you,” Travis said, placing himself in my line of vision so that I had to look at him. “We didn’t really get the chance to talk last time.”
“How did you find me, anyway? Angela didn’t know who you were.”
“So you were asking about me?”
Travis looked so pleased with this that it was kind of fun to burst his bubble. “No. Angela asked me about you after she saw us talking.”
“And what’d you tell her?”
I shrugged. “I told her what I knew. That you’re some guy named Travis.”
Speaking of Angela. Where the freak was she? I figured for sure she’d have returned dragging a clueless Dave with her by now. I started scanning the crowd looking for her. Somewhere in the back of my brain it registered that Travis was asking me something, but I couldn’t answer him because I’d spotted Seth across the room. He was talking to some girl I recognized from school, but he seemed to be paying about as much attention to her as I was to Travis.
I don’t know why I’d assumed Seth wouldn’t be there. Angela said she’d invited him. My heart gave an anxious flutter. Or maybe that was my stomach twisting in on itself at the sight of him. So hard to tell with Seth. Both reactions are equally likely.
“I see big brother’s here again,” Travis grumbled, startling me from my stare. He’d followed my gaze and was glaring at Seth so hard I had to smirk.
Seth felt us watching him and looked up. The lifelessness I saw in his eyes confused me. Oh, he stared at me, same as always, but there was no sparkle, no hint of desire, or even the danger that there usually was. At least, not until he looked at Travis. Then there was plenty of danger. He and Travis resembled a couple of caged pit bulls ready to tear each other’s throats out.
Not that I’m naturally vindictive or anything, but an idea hit me that I simply couldn’t resist. “Well you asked who your competition was,” I said to Travis, then smiled as sweetly as I could Seth’s direction.
I figured Seth wouldn’t mind that I was using him since it was in an effort to get rid of Travis. He’s a pretty sharp guy and it didn’t take a genius to see what I was doing. But when I sent him a big friendly wave and mouthed the words “Hi Seth,” he was shocked. He returned my smile and started making his way over to us.
Oh, great! I hadn’t meant to actually encourage him. Now the best I could hope for was that he and Travis would kill each other, thus ending the party and allowing me to go home and watch the UFC fight.
Before I had to deal with that problem though, Angela returned, dragging Dave with her. “Ellie, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.” She gave me a look that suggested she was not happy to see me standing there with another guy.
Dave eyed Travis curiously, too, but he wasn’t so subtle with his thoughts as Angela was. “Another guy you’re not dating, Westley?”
“Following my sister around like a lap dog, Holcomb?” I shot back.
“Oh, you guys,” Angela said with a laugh. Nobody could have missed the way she stepped up to me, putting herself between Travis and I, consequently pushing me next to Dave. “Who’s your friend, Ellie?”
After I begrudgingly gave introductions, Angela said, “So, Travis, how come I’ve never seen you around school?”
“I’m a senior over at Stevenson High in Livonia.”
“Oh. So who do you know from Canton?”
“Well, I’d like to know Ellie better,” he said. “She pretty much stole my heart when she busted that guy’s face at the lake last week.”
With that, Dave burst into laughter. “Yeah, she tends to do that.”
“What, steal hearts or punch people?” Travis asked.
I glanced at Dave, surprisingly curious of his answer, but he just smiled knowingly at Travis and said, “Good luck with this one,” plopping his arm over my shoulder. Angela had to be loving that.
“Speaking of punching people,” I grumbled.
Dave stepped away from me, lifting his hands in surrender. “All right. Chill, Westley. I’m just playin’.”
“Your favorite pass time lately. But I was talking about the fight. Can we still turn that on or what? I’m sure there’s a big screen around here somewhere.”
More like a small movie theater. Rachel’s parents owned one of the biggest houses in Canton. It made the lake house with the boat and the Jet Skis look rather unimpressive.
“What fight?” Travis asked.
Dave answered before I could. “The UFC Prelims.”
“Those are tonight?”
“Yup,” I said. “And we’re missing them, so why don’t the two of you go see if we can turn them on?”
Travis started to say something, but Dave gave me a mock salute and said, “The birthday girl has spoken.”
I gave him a special salute of my own as he dragged Travis off to find Rachel. They weren’t even out of sight before Angela was clinging to my arm, bouncing up and down. “Did you see that? He was totally flirting with you!”
“That wasn’t flirting. That was Dave doing what he does best—giving me crap.”
“I don’t think so, Ellie. It’s obviously on a subconscious level, but Dave is in to you. But listen to me, if we’re going to make this happen, you really have to ditch muscle man. What’s he even doing here, anyway?”
“How should I know? It’
s not like I invited him. I didn’t even know about this stupid party.”
Angela’s face fell and I instantly felt like a jerk. Which was surprising, because I don’t normally feel bad for being rude to Angela. But what was even more surprising was that I apologized. “I’m sorry,” I said, shocking us both. “I didn’t mean the party was stupid. I’m just annoyed by Travis. Oh, hey, I know. Why don’t you go find some girl to keep him busy?”
“Ooh. Good idea. Now, no more flirting with anybody else.”
“I wasn’t—” It was no use. Angela was already gone.
On the bright side, Angela was gone. And Dave was gone. And best of all, Travis was gone. I plopped myself down into an empty armchair with an exhausted sigh, and closed my eyes, enjoying the alone time. But I only got a moment’s peace.
“You left your hair down.”
Only one voice can make my heart speed up and raise the hairs on my neck at the same time. I opened my eyes and sure enough Seth was staring down at me with that familiar deep blue piercing stare.
“Angela made me,” I muttered, cursing myself for sounding as nervous as I suddenly felt.
Seth sat down on the arm of the chair, looking me over in a way that made me blush. “I like it,” he said. “A lot.”
He reached out to touch my hair and I cringed back so violently it startled him. In an instant his face went sour. “What is your problem?” he snapped.
“My problem?” Hey, if someone gets pissed at me, I get pissed back—just ask Kowalski. I can’t help it. I guess even possible psychopathic killers are no exception to my anger management issues.
“You were the one smiling all friendly a minute ago.”
“That doesn’t mean I want you to touch me. Geez, Seth! I was just doing that to piss Travis off so he’d leave me alone.”
Seth played back the scene in his mind and I could see the exact moment he realized it was true. His anger was gone, and, just like a minute ago with Angela, I suddenly felt like a world-class jerkwad. Except I hadn’t just hurt Seth’s feelings a little bit, I’d crushed them.
He gave me this scorned, bitter look that racked me with so much guilt I couldn’t let him leave. When he started to walk away I jumped up and grabbed his wrist. “Seth, wait. I’m sorry, okay?”